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Growing Tomatoes

Got 4 San marzanos growing

10 years ago

I'm using promix ultimate organic(green label) soil.Will try to get better pics as the grow goes.I'm a noob lol.My first tomato grow.its been smooth sailing.....well mostly.Few days ago I ran into a pest problem.
First it was my broccoli,had the small cabbage green catapillars.Pretty much turned into a infestation,I said screw it & tossed the broccoli with the soil into a bon fire.It was so bad,no way to save.Somehow my tomatoes were practally untounched by them,a leaf or two had small cuts,but nothing major.

Then I started getting aphids on my tomato plants I believe.What is weird is they keep going after one really hard & leave the other 3 alone pretty much.

I made a mixture of 2 spanish yellow onions,4 bulbs of garlic,2TBS cayyene pepper & put them in a blender.Poured it in a gallon jug,filled it up with water & let it set overnight.I strained it off good & sprayed all plants down really good.I only done one application so far but it seems to be working.I put the leftover pulp on the soil & topped promix with a light dressing of worm castings.The leaves look like they are a bit low on nitrogen,good green color but lighter then they should be I believe.

Aphids are still around but its MUCH less then what their was.Hopefully it stays like this :) .I got a feeling this is something practically unavoidable.I am thinking about making a stronger mix(more garlic).

The lower leafs curl up(almost closed) in the lowest branches.Their is a few brown spots on them.Can't tell if its just from aphids or diease/fugus.I seen small patches of purple like dots along the mainstem,very small areas.

I pulled off suckers,but left some on 3 of the 4 plants.Because some are packing good clusters of flowers.They aren't tall,2-2.5ft i'd say.Need to get something to support the branches soon.Please don't laugh but I'm growing these on a table in pots.Ill figure out some way to support them.I will updat as they grow & fruit & will post any probems here if thats ok with the mods.

Might try to borrow my stepmom's cam,much better than my crappy cell cam.

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Comments (7)

mambooman
10 years ago
The container in the foreground (the small orangish one) looks way to small to grow a tomato plant in. You need to transplant that to a bigger pot. Otherwise, it will get rootbound fairly quickly.
bgthumb
Original Author
10 years ago
I'm planning to soon,the one you are talking about is a 1 gallon.All of those plants were in that one gallon at first lol.Was very difficult working the cluster of roots out.I might clean one of my rubbermaid storage boxes out & put a couple in it,I think it can hold 6-8 cu ft of soil at least.

I'm going to spray them down again tomorow.When I make another batch I want to add some soap.What type of soap should I use?I would hope its sold in most stores & not some fancy expensive kind you can only get at a nursery.
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spicymeatball
10 years ago
I have aphids on my san marzanos too. I've been spraying with neem oil and they are dieing. There are some on my big beef and brandywine too but not as much.
bgthumb
Original Author
10 years ago
The one in my 3 gallon is yellowing,not severe but has me worried.Been getting a ton of rain all week.I put some groccery bags over the top of all my pots but I don't think its been keeping the rain out.Is it probably just from it getting to much water from all the rain I had?Their is no spotting(black/brown etc).Just yellowing.Many leaves are curling up(some almost closed).

I think ill try to clear some room in the shed or garage to store them when it storms.4 of the next 7 days their is 50% of storms.And the 3 days with no rain,mostly cloudy.Wish it would be nothing but sunny for a few days,I think thats what they really need right now.
bgthumb
Original Author
10 years ago
Another pic
tomahtohs
10 years ago
Have you been fertilizing regularly? We've also had tremendous rain in the past few days, and I think all that water can wash out the nutrients in you containers. plants in containers particularly need fertilizer almost with every watering. Yellowing leaves could be a sign of just being water logged, but unless you have a water catcher under the pot, that is unlikely. A more likely cause (I think) is that all the nitrogen and other nutrients, have been washed out by the rain.

As for the curling, that's (said to be) just a general sign of stress. It happens almost every season to me late in the summer, but it doesn't seem to have any adverse effect on yield or health of the plant.

We're always fighting something when it comes to gardening, aren't we? :)
bgthumb
Original Author
10 years ago
I fed them molasses once lol.I tried to keep this grow organic but I guess i'm going to wave the white flag most likely & get some miracle grow tomato fert 18-18-21.Even though it ruins the soil,has a ton of salts,& states "Disposal:we recommend contacting your local refuse company to inquire about a Household Hazardous waste pick-up."

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